Downtown Unalaska got a light dusting on Monday. (Credit: KUCB)

Winter usually has a different feel in the Aleutian Islands compared to the rest of the state. The days aren’t as short, and the temperatures are nowhere near as cold.

But as Alaska faces yet another year of below-average snowfall, the Aleutians are beginning to look a lot less exceptional. KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal has more.

On Monday morning, a rare sound rang out in the parking lot at Unalaska’s community center.

[fade up plow scraping]

That’s a snow plow, scraping up the fluffy stuff that had accumulated overnight.

Driver Steve Engman says he can’t remember the last time Unalaska’s roads crew had to clean out that lot.

"So far this year, we’ve had ice to deal with," Engman says. "No snow. The freezing rain and all that."

Despite the occasional ice, it’s been warmer than usual in the Aleutians this year, according to Christian Cassell. He’s a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"The one big driver of temperatures are the sea surface temperatures," Cassell says. "And they have been near all-time record highs over much of the Bering and the North Pacific right now."

Almost ten degrees above normal in some areas -- which is more than enough to throw storms off their track.

With no influx of cold Arctic air, Cassell says the Aleutians have stayed pretty balmy.

And it isn’t just limited to this winter, either. For the last year and half, storms have been moving off-kilter.

"And that’s resulting in snowfall deficits over your area and pretty much most of Alaska," Cassell says.

There’s a normal cycle of warming and cooling that takes place in the Pacific Ocean. But Cassell says it looks like another pattern is at play -- an El Niño. 

That’s the official name for a warm weather anomaly that starts out in the Pacific Ocean.

The signs are all there, but Cassell says the water needs to stay warm just a little longer. Until then, it's just "an El Niño-ish type pattern."

And as for the Aleutians? Is there any hope for a white Christmas -- or will it just be white-ish?

"There is a big low moving well southeast of Unalaska up toward the Gulf of Alaska, and that will bring some northerly flow," Cassell says. "That usually brings some Arctic air and some snowfall. But it’s just so warm right now that I’m not too sure that it’s going to be snow. It might just be cold rain."

But Steve Engman isn’t sweating it just yet. The snow plow driver says winter in the Aleutians can vary.

"It’s been a slow year, but the last couple of years, it hasn’t started until after Christmas -- around Christmastime," Engman says. "So January. We’re hopeful for January and February to be some heavy snow days."

Not for plowing, though: "So we can get the snow machines out and play around," Engman says. "Snowboard a little bit." 

And that's some winter spirit.